As Easy As Plates
by Rasiaa
Summary: The plate breaks on the cupboard door, and a simple spell can fix that. But no spell in the world can fix her broken family. / On Ginny and her children.


_prompt:_

 _Modular Origami: Modular origami consists of putting a number of identical pieces together to form a complete model. Normally the individual pieces are simple but the final assembly may be tricky._

 _ **Task 2:** Write about someone putting the pieces of something back together (figuratively or literally)_

 _Hogwarts School forum. wc: 793_

 _Yes, this is an actual headcanon of mine. I'm so mean._

* * *

There was a reason why the Potter siblings never got along.

Ginny noticed, of course, but what could she do? They fought something fierce when they were forced together and they had nothing in common to mend the wounds.

That hadn't always been the case.

James was six, Allie four, and Lily two when it happened.

Ginny doesn't know if Lily remembers it, but she does know that her boys definitely do.

James was trouble-prone, too smart for his own good. He mastered the skill of sneaking around rather early; raising him was a nightmare. He has snuck into Harry's office and somehow managed to knock over the bookshelf.

Ginny hadn't known that her younger children had been trapped underneath for a moment. All she'd seen was James, bleeding from a deep cut on his head. He was yelling nonsense, pointing desperately at the shelf. She'd ignored it until he shouted, "Mum - it's, it's Allie!"

She swung around and lifted the shelf with her wand and nearly collapsed then and there.

Had James been knocked unconscious by the bookshelf, Lily would have died.

The blood puddle was enormous. One of the shelves had been knocked loose in the fall and left a gap wide enough for Allie and Lily to hide under and make the shelf flat on the floor. Ginny had taken the three of them to St. Mungo's and stayed there until Lily was awake two days later. Allie left the hospital with a broken collarbone and a skull fracture.

They avoided each other after that, and they never did revive their relationship. Lily would flinch for years around James and Allie became a shadow, molding himself to the walls. Lily made friends with her namesake, spending days with Luna and Rolf and their boys.

They just… never spoke. And they grew up away from each other. And now? It's all different opinions and beliefs and memories, and they have no solid ground under them.

And as for Ginny, well. Her heart is broken.

Lily had gone to the States when she turned eighteen to peruse a music career. She was a quiet sort of star, but she made her own small fortune fairly quickly.

James traveled all over, studying historical documents and artifacts with scholars from all over the world. He wasn't rich by any means, but he was happy, so that's all that mattered.

Allie was more than content to simply inherit the fortune from the Potter family. When he wed Scorpius, he was set to inherit the Malfoy fortune, too. He moved to a small apartment out the outskirts of London and Ginny considers herself lucky to hear from him once a month.

She doesn't know where it all went wrong. She should have done more to keep her family together.

Harry walks into the kitchen where she's leaning against the counter, staring at a family photo they'd taken two years ago. The five of them had been standing close, but the strain was obvious. Lily and James had been screaming bloody murder at each other earlier over the blue tint James had added to Lily's hairspray. It'd gotten all over her and they'd apparently both forgotten about magic.

Harry slides his arm around her shoulder. "It's a nice photo," he says.

Ginny shakes her head. "It's a disaster," she refutes, tossing it on the counter. "I wish they were friends, at the very least. They act like they don't have siblings. I love my brothers. Why don't they get along?"

"I never got along with my cousin," Harry offers.

"That's different; he hated you."

"Gee, thanks, Gin."

She sighs. "Sorry. I'm sorry."

"No, no. I know he did. He might have gotten over it, but he hated me once. But it's no different with our kids; they don't love each other at all."

"Why?"

Harry shrugs, leaning his head on hers. "They're very different," he says. "Maybe that's it. Or maybe it's all the fights they had as kids… too much resentment."

Ginny closes her eyes. "I don't know why it started."

"No telling what goes on with them, Gin."

"I wish we could fix it," she says, turning around. She opens the cupboard and pulls down a plate. It hits the door as she closes it and the edge of it shatters off, splitting further as it hits the counter. "Oh, Merlin," she mutters. A wave of her wand is enough to repair it.

Harry kisses her temple. "Me too, Gin. But people aren't as easy as plates."

The fireplace flares and James steps into the living room, beaming at them. Harry and Ginny smile back. She can't help but dread the arrival of her younger children. That smile on her baby's face will vanish.


End file.
